Joshua Tree National Park through San Diego

Nick: Yesterday was... not the best. This day, well... it didn't really take any huge turns for the better, but it had a handful of little things that helped it cross over into the "fair" category from the "I want my mommy, and I want to go home" category. The first one came early: just as we were skipping out on the park admission (as we are prone to do when we've actually just slept in the car,) we pulled over so Brian could tinkle and before us, rising up in triumphant natural splendor, was the biggest, boldest rainbow either of us had ever seen. The sun was coming up from behind the mountains, and the rain clouds were retreating from the valley which created the colorful arch right in front of us. it seemed a sign, and as it faded as quickly and mysteriously as it had appeared, we couldn't help feeling a bit better. Though that might just have been the car's climate control kicking in.

Brian: It was truly majestic. So since we needed to head back towards San Diego for Rod's Superbowl party anyway, and also because we were sans sleeping bags, we cut our planned camping a day short and cruised back toward the coast. It was a Saturday, and seemingly every Borders in the city was the new coolest place to be. We were tired and began to get frustrated by our inability to find a place to just chill out and blog. Then I made a suggestion: Let's just hit the reset button on this day. We are on a road trip gosh darn it, and we are supposed to be having fun no matter what. So we headed to the nearest Hooters and ordered a couple beers.

Nick: Have I mentioned how much I love America? Steve, of Steve and Leah (who we'd end up spending the night with) informed us that the particular Hooters we had found was arguably the "best" in the country. I don't think Brian or I would have argued with that. After one beer turned into a couple, and hunger gave way to a few rounds of wings, we eventually departed feeling fresh and recharged. Since we hadn't quite worked out housing yet at this point, we headed over to our favorite park in the country, made a few phone calls, and tossed the disk around in anticipation of a place to lay our heads for the night. After finding and returning a strange looking man's wallet, the universe must have looked on us with mercy, as we soon thereafter received a positive reply from Steve and Leah (see, I told you we were going to stay with them.)

Brian: The night ended early for us, as the lack of sleep from the previous night caught up with us. I curled up in my sleeping bag (oh sleeping bag, I'll never leave you ever again as long as I live) around 9 and was asleep in about 5 minutes. Although that's nothing new. Nick and Brian warm and out.